Having this 3.4 Mk 1 at College , I was challenged to a race by a Guy with a Studebaker Silver Hawk V8.
The roads were narrow in the Area , so his suggestion ( saying his clutch was a bit dodgy) ( Apprentice's remember) I should go in front , when I reach 70MPH, put my arm out the window , we both hit the Gas pedal and then he will pass me and we can race to the College Gate. This was his suggestion, except ,when I stuck my arm out ,and put my foot down, his car rapidly dwindled in size in the rear view mirror! Seems like he did not really wish to speak with me anymore after this?
I just remembered something about this first MK1 . The steering was adjustable for reach, and it never had the clip in to prevent it coming off. We are at My Dad's house, think I was helping him with his V8 Jag. Chris ( very pregnant ) takes my Jag to the shops .
Strange Car parks outside, My wife gets, out " Thank You" with my steering wheel in her hand! Not very impressed with me.
Four of us in college coming back from somewhere, Guy's ask me to put my foot down, doing 125MPH on the speedo, straight road. Wow, very impressed. I ask "Would you like to drive it Gordon", " Yes Please", I hand him the Wheel, Screams of Horror, Strangely enough he would not take the wheel, and nobody wanted to drive with me for a while?
There were several different routes we could take to College, one day I noticed a Black Jag MK2 standing under a tree near Kyalami. Week or 2 goes by and I can no longer contain my curiosity ( and Greed).
Stop in , meet the owner , Ex track car brought out from England (Supposedly a Coombs Jag) for the Kyalami 9 hour, sent down to East London , and then on to Cape Town. He purchased it and used it on the road a bit and had then run a big end bearing . Said it had finished 3rd in the 9 hour race , first saloon car home! As I recognised him as a Race Driver for the BIC team , (Cortina Big Sixes) I had no reason to doubt his word. Did he wish to sell it?, yes R500.00.
Earning R80.00 per Month, Pregnant Wife Chris , what would you do? Correct " Can I pay you off" Sure. At College, at Home Weekends, started working Overtime at night in the exchanges ( couple of Rand per hour). I think Wayne was born by the time I finally collected it. Henry ( My future Brother-in-Law) helped me tow it. We stayed in a flat in Florida , and I had already hired 2 extra Garages from other tenants.Drop the Front suspension, drop the sump ,find the loose bearing,. Extremely lucky, the Crankshaft bearing has a minor scratch on it ,which I am able to polish off in the car. Find the oil pump ( much bigger than standard ,has a cracked gear in it. Use a spare pump I have on it.. Put it all back together , start it up ! Really Loud 2 Straight through pipes on a high Compression, Cammed and ported twin cam straight six.
Sounds like Heaven!
Henry and I get in it and Meander up to the top of "The Highway" ( Name of the Street). As we reach St Catherine's Convent , we are up to operating temperature. The street in front of the School is straight and then a quick S bend, by the time we reach the S bend we are doing 100MPH, I accelerate more , In front of us is an elderly couple in a Zephyr nearly stopped, looking left and right to see which way they are going to turn. I swing right, and hit brakes, at which point I am violently reminded that I forgot to bleed the Brakes after having the front suspension back!
We go skidding backwards past them on their right , luckily they turned left, both white faced ( as I am sure Henry and I were too. Probably went past them at 100mph backwards. I managed to not hit the pavement and sauntered back home, no prizes for guessing what the first thing I did was when I got home! ( no I did not change my pants) it involved a pipe and Brake fluid.
On closer examination this car had extra anti-tramp bars at the back, limited slip diff was standard on 3.8's and highly modified front suspension( it would out corner a Mini) If you pulled away hard with it , it would stand still , until you hit 2nd gear with so much smoke coming off the tires, you could not see behind you!. In a 2 block race it would leave a standard 3.8 a block behind.The cams came in at about 3,300RPM, and when on the cams you would be lucky to get 8 MPG. Saying that under 3300 in overdrive would be about 85 mph, and you would get nearly 30 MPG at that speed. By the time I got this running , I was finished with College and Working.
I also purchased a 2.4 MK1 and another Special Equipment 3.4 MK 1 . The SE model by the way, was the World's first Saloon Car with 4 Wheel Disc Brakes. When that came out Ferrari's formula 1 cars were still using Drums!
The 2.4 was parked on top of a hill in Kensington in JHB and had not run in years, I think the Owner had died, I worked with his Nephew . Went there with a spark plug tire pump. Pumped all the wheels, cleaned out the carburetor, Put in another Battery would not start. Tied a tire to the front of the Black Jag, Chris drove that, with Wayne in a crib on the back seat.
A Jags brakes do not work if the motor is not running . you really cannot push hard enough without the vacuum. Checked everything and pushed, down the hill it sails , and luckily, motor started ( Much initial smoke) just before the bottom. The tire was on the front of the other car in case I stalled. There was suddenly a hang of a traffic jam and I did stall it once Chris came up behind me and pushed and off I went again. It was dark and on the M1 Highway I took it to flat out ( about 110MPH) and see 2 tiny headlights in the rear view approaching rapidly! Yes it was Chris and she must have been doing well over 130MPH with my Son in a crib on the back seat!